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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29826846">of t-shirts and hoodies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dhufflebee/pseuds/dhufflebee'>dhufflebee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Glee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cuddles, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Late Night Conversations, couples' clichés, discussions about clothes, gratuitous references to the Michelin Man, they're just very cute is all</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:35:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,847</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29826846</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dhufflebee/pseuds/dhufflebee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel and Jesse have a late-night conversation (and a winter morning surprise) about clothes and couples’ clichés.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rachel Berry/Jesse St. James</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>of t-shirts and hoodies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Apparently these two are the only thing that can get me motivated enough to write as of lately.</p><p>Anyway, this is just a fluffy little slice of life (?) that I really couldn’t get out of my head. Rachel and Jesse are so cute; I miss them.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Still half asleep, Jesse heard a sound he didn’t recognize, and stirred under the duvet. His mind wanted to attribute the sound to the pleasant dream he’d been dreaming and couldn’t quite remember—yet the low, uneven sound wasn’t stopping. Jesse forced his eyes open and blinked a few times to regain some clarity of mind. His brain finally caught up with his ears and he recognized the noises in his bedroom: rummaging, feet shuffling, annoyed murmurs. Jesse started, alarmed by the presence of an intruder, and readied himself to jump off the bed to grab his baseball bat.</p><p>After a couple of seconds, though, the reality of the situation washed over him—<em>It’s just Rachel</em>. Jesse exhaled and shook his head, smiling. She’d moved into his apartment the previous month, but the novelty of living together still took Jesse by surprise every now and again.</p><p>Jesse finally emerged from under the covers in time to see Rachel put her pajamas back on, frowning like she’d received the worst news of her life. She then got back under the duvet by his side, and crossed her arms on her chest while staring at the ceiling. Jesse was frowning as well now, and he turned towards her: “Rach, what’s up?”</p><p>“I cannot believe you don’t own a single loose-fitting shirt!” she said, emphatically.</p><p>“What?!”</p><p>Rachel finally turned to look at him, eyes ablaze. “I said, I cannot believe you—”</p><p>“I heard what you said. What does it mean?” Jesse asked, bewildered.</p><p>Rachel huffed, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “Look at me. I had to put my pajamas back on,” she said, raising her eyebrows, clearly waiting for an answer from Jesse, who was at a loss for words. “My <em>own</em> PJs, Jesse! After sexy times!” she explained, petulantly.</p><p>Jesse burst out laughing. “Sexy times?”</p><p>Rachel scrunched her nose and stuck her tongue out at him, and Jesse shuffled under the covers until he reached her and enveloped her in a hug. She cuddled up to him and entangled her legs with his, humming comfortably. Jesse’s heart swelled with affection—<em>How was I ever able to sleep before having Rachel here with me, God only knows</em>.</p><p>“I still don’t get it, though. What’s with my shirts?” Jesse asked, stroking Rachel’s hair.</p><p>“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s stupid.”</p><p>“It’s bothering you, so it clearly isn’t a trivial matter. Besides, I nearly took you for an intruder, and you know how effective I can be with that baseball bat.” He felt Rachel chuckle against his chest—surely one of the most pleasant sensations life could offer.</p><p>“It’s just—” Rachel began, shrugging a little. “You know that thing you always see in movies? where the woman is so settled into their life together or their home or whatever that she can just like, wear his clothes? Especially in the morning, when she wakes up after a night together.” Rachel shook her head and waved her hand, like she was trying to shoo an innocuous but persistent fly. “It’s silly, I know. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“It’s actually kind of adorable,” Jesse said, before kissing the crown of her head softly. “Why all that fuss earlier, then? I do own clothes, you know,” he added with a smirk.</p><p>“I know you do,” Rachel exclaimed, with a smile and a playful swat on his chest. Then she frowned again, and Jesse had to resist the urge to smooth the line between her brows with his thumb. Instead, he caressed her cheek in that way he knew she liked. Rachel closed her eyes and hummed softly, and Jesse was afraid his heart would explode at any moment.</p><p>“I’ve always dreamed,” Rachel mused after a while, “that I would be able to just—take a look at my husband’s side of the closet and immediately find a loose, well-loved t-shirt to put on when I woke up, or even just a big hoodie during winter nights, you know?” A wistful smile was dancing on Rachel’s lips. Jesse (whose breath had hitched in pleasant surprise when she’d so casually said <em>husband</em>) looked intently at her face, and smiled in return.</p><p>“Only problem is,” Rachel said, quirking an eyebrow, “you don’t own any hoodies, and all your tops are tight cause you’re so lean and fit… Not that I’m complaining, mind you,” she added, a little breathlessly, while slowly tracing the muscles on Jesse’s abdomen with her fingers.</p><p>Jesse, for his part, was certain he’d lose any ability to understand what Rachel was saying, if she insisted on doing <em>that</em>—his brain was two seconds away from short-circuiting, and his skin burned under her touch. Jesse struggled to steady his breath and mentally begged Rachel to <em>stop</em>, because he wanted to listen to her and talk to her, and she was making it unfairly hard. (Then, when she stopped, he cursed himself for ever thinking that.)</p><p>Holding Rachel in his arms, feeling her that close to him, was intoxicating, but at least Jesse’s mind was clearing up. “I can go get some large t-shirts tomorrow, if you want,” he offered.</p><p>“Thanks, but that wouldn’t be the same,” Rachel answered shaking her head, her hair falling everywhere. She then caught a strand and started fiddling with it, almost anxiously. “The point is that the shirt should be <em>yours</em>, you know? Even better if it’s old and loose and soft—not the right size for my body, yet barely big enough to contain all my love.”</p><p>Rachel had spoken so quietly that Jesse wouldn’t have heard her if they hadn’t been that close. His heart swelled up, and once again he felt like he was on fire, only that time it was the steady, comforting warmth of affection spreading all through him—God, he loved her so much.</p><p>Jesse hugged Rachel tighter, the space between them almost nonexistent. She sneaked an arm around his waist and murmured: “That was so sappy”. She scrunched her nose against his chest, and he kissed the top of her head, a smile on his lips.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Rachel closed the door behind her and hung her coat and purse on the rack nearby. She was trying to be as quiet as possible, so not to spoil her surprise for Jesse—she’d come back home way earlier than usual, having left school before her lessons even ended just because she missed Jesse and wanted to see and hug him. Their respective schedules were a mess that month, what with her studying and him just starting rehearsals for his show, and they’d seen very little of each other. Late nights and snatchy Sundays and the rare, rushed lunch were not <em>nearly</em> enough.</p><p>She left her shoes near the door and padded towards the kitchen, were she could hear Jesse humming and handling plates in that noisy way of his. Rachel was glad Jesse was distracted, because that meant she could surprise him with a hug from behind—something she loved to do, and that he endearingly called ‘the sneaky koala’.</p><p>Rachel walked up to Jesse and put her arms around his waist; she felt his body tense under her touch, then relax after a couple of seconds. “Hey, Rach,” he said, a smile in his voice.</p><p>“Hi, baby,” Rachel answered, her voice muffled by Jesse’s hoodie. <em>Wait, what? A hoodie?</em> Rachel stepped back and stared at Jesse’s back with a puzzled expression. He was wearing a big hoodie over what appeared to be several oversized t-shirts—a rather warm outfit for a winter morning but one that was decidedly <em>not</em> Jesse’s style.</p><p>After a beat, Jesse turned around as well, his head tilted to the side. “What are you doing here, Rachel? Aren’t you supposed to be at school now?”</p><p>“What are <em>you</em> doing dressed like that, Jesse?” Rachel sputtered, gesturing wildly in his direction. “You look like the Michelin Man!”</p><p>Jesse chuckled, and Rachel could swear he was blushing a little, too. “You first,” he urged.</p><p>“I just wanted to surprise you is all,” she answered, her expression softening. “We’ve seen so little of each other lately, and I just really missed you.”</p><p>Jesse smiled and enveloped Rachel in a hug, resting his chin on her head. She sighed contentedly against the soft fabric of his hoodie. “This feels really weird, you with all these layers and stuff. What’s going on?”</p><p>“I’m just—” Jesse began, a note of uncertainty in his voice. “I’m trying to speedrun the process of making these clothes feel well-worn.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I’ve been wearing all these shirts whenever I’ve been home alone in the past week,” he explained, the red on his cheeks deepening. “The plan was to just do it for a little while more, and then surprise you one morning when you opened my side of the closet.”</p><p>Rachel stared intently at Jesse, going almost weak at the knees at the fondness in his eyes. Her brain was trying to remember something, but the details were fuzzy except for the vague recollection of a late-night conversation about clothes. “You mean—”</p><p>“Yeah, so you can put on a big t-shirt of mine when you wake up,” Jesse said, bashfully.</p><p>The force of the memory slammed Rachel like an oncoming train. She couldn’t believe he’d taken her sleepy, nonsensical rambling that seriously. Her heart swelled up, and she felt she was about to burst at the seams with the intensity of her love for Jesse. She stood on tiptoes, put a hand on his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He smiled against her lips, before deepening the kiss and pressing himself flush against her.</p><p>Rachel broke the kiss apart after a while, happy that Jesse looked as flushed and out of breath as she was. She smiled and thanked him, resting a hand on his chest. “I can’t believe you’d do this for me… It was just a silly thing, really.”</p><p>Jesse tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, smiling softly. “Of course, Rachel. You know I’d do anything to make you happy.”</p><p>Rachel bit her lip. Missing Jesse made her heart ache on the daily, but at that moment she felt so grateful and in love that she feared her heart would explode nonetheless.</p><p>“Um, baby?” Rachel said, pulling playfully at the hem of his hoodie. “Do you think you need help getting out of these shirts?”</p><p>Jesse laughed out loud, tilting his head back. “I think I can manage!”</p><p>Rachel huffed in mock exasperation and wiggled her eyebrows at him.</p><p>“Oh, you meant it like that,” Jesse exclaimed, smirking. “Then I <em>definitely</em> need you to help me.”</p><p>“Good,” Rachel mused, before giving him a peck on the lips and tugging at his arm so that he’d follow her. “I wonder how it’s going to feel like, getting out of bed and finally wearing a t-shirt that belongs to the man I love.” She smiled at Jesse, who was beaming and looking at her so eagerly that she felt heat spread through her body.</p><p>
  <em>Maybe I should make a habit of ditching school to come home in the morning.</em>
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